We Cast a Shadow

At Seasons, the narrator’s office has been moved to the building’s main floor, where all of the senior shareholders’ offices are located. Octavia is happy with the campaign Jo Jo and Polaire have put together. The first ads are already up, projected on a nearby skyscraper. There is no time to waste in heading to PHH, as Octavia’s company rival, shareholder Jack Armbruster, is courting the influential media company Darkblum as a potential client. At PHH, Octavia and the narrator find the CEO, an elderly Black man named Mr. Eckstein, unimpressed with their pitch; he is unconvinced of Seasons’ commitment to diversity. Octavia is incensed at the rejection. In PHH’s lobby, the narrator spots Crooked Crown being interviewed by reporters. She is wearing a collar monitor because she attacked a police officer last year but brokered a deal that spared her the jail time or execution to which an ordinary citizen would have been subjected. A member of her entourage pulls the narrator aside. Crooked Crown, now going only by Crown, says that she has seen his face in the new Seasons ad and likes his style. He hands her his business card.